XIV 
that species in onr waters. If there is a decrease (and such,. 
I am informed, is the fact) it is due to the haul-seine. 
7. We catch (or rather, did catch some years since) rock, 
perch, crocus and taylors in their season, and sometimes 
trout and a few other varieties. We catch now a few tay- 
lors, the haul-seine not having destroyed all of that species, as 
they are migratory and not permanent in Maryland waters. 
I consider the rock, when protected, the best adapted to our 
waters, as it is native to them, and decidedly the best and most 
profitable food-fish. 
8. Do not sell fish, and am ignorant of the price of them, 
but know that the price rules higher each year as the fish be- 
come scarcer. 
9. Have made no observations worthy of note, and would 
not know a ripe female. 
10. If I judge rightly the male greatly predominates. 
Would not know a ripe one of either sex. 
11. On these points am ignorant. During a part of last 
fall a large number of small rock, about a foot long, were in 
our waters. Some of them probably escaped the haul-seine, 
as I have seen a few caught this fall, and the average length 
was fifteen or sixteen inches, from which fact I judge they 
grow in length about three or four inches a year. 
12. As before remarked, the female of the same length is 
much broader, stouter and heavier than the male. Do not 
know about rate of growth. 
13. Hot by any means. Think there is no doubt that 
the rock should be propagated in every possible way. They 
are certainly, in my opinion, the most valuable food-fish 
in our waters ; but it is not only useless — it is simply 
absurd— to try to propagate them without protection. If 
the haul-seine is not speedily abolished the rock will, in 
a very short time, become extinct in our waters. There is 
no escape if the liaul-seine is allowed to sweep our coves,, 
creeks, rivers, &c., indiscriminately. They feed to some ex- 
tent on young fish, such as minnows, young alewives, &c., 
but I do not think them as destructive to young fish as the 
taylors are. 
